“You Love That”


「それ、好きだなあ」 (Sore, Sukida naa)

If I had any remaining doubts about Tada-kun, this episode pretty much blew them out onto the curbside.

The World of Nyanko Big

When things started with “Ore wa Nyanko Big”, given in a gruff and elderly voice, I knew we’d struck gold. Having Nyanko Big (Ootsuka Akio) narrate most of the episode was a stroke of directorial genius. He is already one of the best characters and I was thrilled to see him steal the spotlight in such a spectacular fashion. In fact, I could honestly believe that a cat might have that sort of sassy outlook on the world.

We got a short flashback explaining how Nyanko Big ended up in the Mitsuyoshi household. A younger Tada took in this grey ball of floof from the rain when he was but a wee kitty, saving his poor little life. Fast forwards to the present and we have this grumpy, demanding feline. Amusingly, he also pompously styles himself as being this guardian watching over Tada, in lieu of his parents. But I wouldn’t have it any other way, because Nyanko Big is simply purrfection.

Grandpa Mitsuyoshi responding as if he could understand Nyanko Big was my favourite gag from the episode. The delivery was perfect and the cat’s shocked reaction was totally on point. Never thought a mere hooman could understand you, huh? But between hilarious antics, we also received some valuable insight into Tada’s life. This guy has worked hard from a very young age in order to make his dreams come true, in spite of personal tragedies, all while helping other folks along the way. His grandpa with running the coffee shop, Yui with her studies, Kaoru from his fright of kappas, Nyanko Big from the rain, and Teresa when she was lost around Tokyo.

What does this say? While our protagonist seems plain on the surface, he has an irrefutable heart of gold. I can’t wait for future episodes to further elaborate on his background, especially information regarding his parents. It’s hard to get excited about a prospective romance, when I’m not particularly invested in the characters involved. And so far, Tada’s characterisation has been rather lacking. More information on his family situation would certainly add layer of context behind his personality, which could help alleviate the aforementioned problem.

Concluding Thoughts

Maybe a yakuza voice (Ore wa Nyanko Big daze) could have been even more hilarious. Imagine Nyanko Big acting like some hardened thug while referring to Tada as aniki? But I’m digressing here, so let’s move on.

Between romance and comedy, it would seem that Tada-kun has decided to angle much harder towards provoking our laughter. From humble beginnings, there’s been an explosive growth in humour and the execution has been nothing short of fantabulous. As expected from the production team behind Gekkan Shoujo, the jokes are well driven through the characters, coupled with an unconventional yet functional approach to their stereotypes. But in my opinion, Tada-kun has shown potential to be even better. Provided it can fix these niggling issues surrounding Tada and Teresa, and turn them into characters we care about, I’ll have no remaining qualms. And even if it falls short, I have no doubt that it will provide a consistent source of entertainment throughout the season, so I’ll be sticking to it regardless.

Unfortunately, I haven’t decided whether I’ll be providing coverage for Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai. But if you see a post next week, you can assume that I’ve picked it up. Also, feedback is appreciated, so let me know if you’d like to see this get covered! As always, thanks for reading my post and hope to see you next time!

 
Preview

17 Comments

  1. This anime is even more awesome after my boyfriend pointed out some of the references in the show. I had to share.

    Don’t know if it was mentioned already but Rainbow Shogun is based off of Abarenbo Shogun.
    Check out the original intro here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkAz4a0bLlI&t=7s

    And as far as looks goes, Mr. “Hit Man” is based off of Galgo 13.

    The resemblances are so good its hilarious! Can’t wait for the next episode! I wonder if there will be more references.

    Yuzu
    1. That’s a great link – and yes, it’s almost as though
      that opening was copied frame for frame in those references.

      So far, a light-hearted comedy/romance is what I see.
      Obviously, there’s something special about the Princess
      Teresa, and the cat already confirmed they’re in love
      (since cats don’t lie, it must be true)…

      mac65
  2. I think part of the reason we’re not seeing more of a romantic development is this is more of a “Roman Holiday” type romance. And let’s not forget the series name is quite up front about it…

    1. The Roman Holiday format is much more appropriate for a movie. Getting it dragged out over 12 episodes is gonna be painful, and I’m not sure if that’s what I’d want, even with the kind of comedy flying around to keep us entertained.

  3. I really liked Nyanko Big as a guide for this episode. Plenty of comedy, background and push the romance forward a bit with that indirect kiss Teresa picked up on and Tada was oblivious to. Overall, I do like this show, but I don’t think anything really different is going to come out of the story. I’d read it if blogged, but wouldn’t miss it if dropped.

    Keep Refrigerated
    1. I’d say Teresa is waking up to the possible underlying romantic tensions in her interactions with Tada. But… I’m just not feeling any chemistry between the two :/

      While I’d be fulfilled seeing other couples get together, especially Pin and Hinako, I still want something better out of our main characters.

  4. Have to say I still think this is an average 5/10 comedy. Comedy is of course 100% subjective, I’m not going to argue with anyone about what they find funny, but I will say I don’t think this does measure up to Gekkan Shoujo. Gekkan Shoujo pushed the boat out further with its comedy and made its characters more distinctive. For example, Kaoru is a much simpler comic character compared to Mikoshiba or Kashima, who both had some similar roles to Kaoru but brought a lot more angles to them, and were more silly about it too. If the show wants to reach Gekkan Shoujo’s heights then for me it’ll need to go further than it’s currently going.

    You know what else I think I’m missing compared to Gekkan Shoujo? Chiyo’s tsukkomi. Only just realized that. Shit, maybe my brain is stuck in a comic rut… Well whatever.

    I also think that there’s still a lack of real chemistry between Teresa and Tada (that moment at the end of this ep felt forced), and a lack of personality for Tada. So for the side characters dominate most scenes, and Pin-senpai has more chemistry with the gravure class president than Tada does with Teresa. There’s still time for the show to rescue itself here, maybe it’ll be a slow burner.

    Again, this is by no means a bad show IMO. I’m still watching, but I’m a long way from being bowled over by it.

    Puffles
    1. Hey Puffles! I can see where your qualms originate from and speaking in retrospect, perhaps I’ve been affected by recency bias.

      However, I’m already seeing much more hopeful signs of romance, starting with Pin and Hinako. Then the other thing is that Pin + Nyanko Big + Rainbow Shogun are heavily carrying the show, with occasional successful gags coming out of Kaoru/Alec. So I’d say with Tada-kun, the humour hits harder than Gekkan Shoujo, though further and fewer between each individual instance.

      Where I see far more potential would be the dramatic and emotional background, stemming from Tada’s family situation. Also, a minor thing. Outside of highschool scenes, I feel much comfier with a setting like the coffee shop to fall back on, as opposed to the apartments that our characters live in.

  5. I’m liking this series a lot. After this episode, I’m now waiting if Alec will one day somehow soften up to Ijuuin and if they’re gonna give more focus to Nyanko Big’s love story, maybe even giving that female cat Cherry a speaking voice and showing her perspective.

    Zhinvu

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